Break for Tradition
by EnderFriend284
Summary: In the midst of conflict, one person wants to take a step back to practice a traditional holiday event, and many others are quickly drawn in to the event. Contains OC's and characters from my other stories. Somewhat holiday season related. I hope you enjoy!


**A/N: Hey, Ender here. So this is my holiday story for this year(New Years at this point, oops :P), I hope you enjoy it! All OC's that are mentioned will be credited at the end, and if I miss any, please let me know. On with the story!**

 **Note: This takes place roughly between chapters 87 and 88 of _Izra's Fall_ , but most of it should be unrelated to the plot of that. If there's anything that seems off or confusing, feel free to ask me about it or look there for clarification. Also, Atoravix is a character who will be seen more in the main story in the future, but you really don't need to know more about him than is shown here to follow the story.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft, Shadow of Israphel or the Yogscast.**

* * *

 **Will's POV**

"Come on, Atoravix, why can't you do this?" I pleaded, flashing him my best needy eyes.

"You know what it would cause." he sighed, crossing his arms.

"But it's tradition." I said "Can't you make this work somehow? Come on, I know you can. Why else do you think I came to you rather than one of the others?"

"Flattery will get you no where, you know that." he said, giving me a cool, even look as he turned away. "You know that most of them are at the edge of war, right."

"Yeah, but I can deal with that." I said dismissively "Once they know what's going on, they'll be grateful for it. Come on Tora-vi, can I count on you?"

"Not if you call me that again." he said wryly. After a long moment, he sighted. "Alright. I can manage to keep things together for three days without consequences, but that's it. After that, I've got to put things back or the time lines will start to stick. And then I'll have Texolauren and Destiny whining about messing with things I shouldn't and changing predetermined paths, and generally messing things up."

"What will things be like afterward?" I asked, the question suddenly occurring to me. Surely, an event like this would not be meaningless to those involved. Perhaps it could do some good, work to even out some of the more tattered relationships of those involved in all of this."

"Some will remember it more strongly than others." Atoravix said. "It's hard to say. Most of them will not recall it except in dreams, but there may be lasting effects on how they treat some others. You should remember it though, as will Destiny, Texolauren and the like."

"And Miri?" I asked softly, a shred of home making its way into my words. Atoravix's gaze softened.

"I shall see what I can do." he promised, dipping his head. "Until then, you should be going. I'll see if I can get a neutral plane up for this, that should get rid of most of the problems."

"Alright." I nodded. "And Atoravix, thanks. For all of this."

"Of course." he said "As you said, it's tradition."

"But you said..." I said, confused. Surely his earlier words had meant...

"I know what I said." he replied "And you know what I meant. Now, I think you should be off. I expect there are things you need to do before I put this in place."

"Yeah." I replied, slightly off balance from his sudden change in attitude. Maybe there was something more here that I wasn't seeing, but as of now, I really didn't care. Atoravix was hardly going to spring some elaborate scheme on me, it was simply not his style.

Closing my eyes, I let myself slip into the magic plane, using it to bridge the gap between Atoravix's home between realms and the Aether, where I had been living for some time. As I returned to the more standard planes, I reigned in my powers, restricting their flow to prevent any incidents that I would rather avoid. Sighing, I stretched, walking into the room where Miritayen's frozen form still stood, his crystalline prison keeping us apart.

"Soon." I murmured, placing my hand against his partially raised one, closing my eyes and imagining that I could feel a soft pulse of warmth from the contact. "Soon we shall be together again, if only for a short time." Standing there for a moment longer, I then turned away, retreating to a nest of blankets and wool to sleep.

"Tomorrow." I sighed, hanging on the edge of consciousness. "That is when it begins."

* * *

 **Sallen's POV**

"Good stars, what time is it? I must have dozed off." I yawned, stretching my wings and scrabbling through the small heap of items and papers in front of me, hoping to find my clock. Most didn't work in the End, but with some extra enchantments I had been able to make something that worked at least most of the time.

At last fishing it out, I glared at it in confusion, not really believing what it showed. The usual division of time was gone, replaced with three almost identically sized sections marked with the small sun icons of day time. Slim slivers of darkness separated them, creating an odd picture that I had never seen before on a clock.

 _Weird._ I thought, shrugging it off and gathering a few papers before trudging downstairs, where the house's other occupants were gathered around the room in varying states of consciousness.

"Morning all." I called, dropping my stuff on the table. Mirexal let out a groan of acknowledgment, puling his blanket higher over his head and snuggling deeper into the couch. Sitting on the floor below him, Null and Endervice were engaged in a heated argument about some little detail of a game they were playing, the pieces scattered across the floor. Teloxen looked up from the furnace he was watching as I spoke, a dish of food cooking within the stone structure.

"Anyone notice anything... odd today?" I asked, trying to phrase it so my words would be taken seriously, instead of simply dismissed as some prank. Most of the others seemed to ignore my words, turning back to what they had been doing, but Teloxen hesitated, looking as if he was carefully choosing his words.

"What is it?" I asked, leaning against the edge of the counter beside him.

"I don't know." he admitted, gaze slipping lower at this admittance. "Something just feels... off though. Like something so plainly obvious has shifted by yet I am missing it completely."

"Mh, well that's not great." I sighed. Giving him a pat on the shoulder, I asked "Can you keep things together while I go out? I wanted to go to the main island to get supplies and talk to the others, and I think Shadow might destroy something if I left these two on their own or with just Mirexal watching them.

Null glared at me, red eyes narrowed at my words, as he half listened to his brother's rambling words. His mask hid most of what he was thinking, but clearly he did not like the idea of being left here.

"Yeah, I can do that." said Teloxen, shaking his wings slightly in an effort to smooth them. Nodding my thanks, I grabbed a bag from the chest beside the door before stepping outside. But it was not out into the dim atmosphere of the End that I was taken. Soft rays of sunlight fell across a wide open field, the edge of which was lined with an odd array of buildings and parts of buildings. A few lone figures walked around the shadows at the field's edge, but as the sun rose and chased the dark away, flickers of movement started to become more frequent across windows, and soon people were going in and out regularly, making the field seem almost like a tiny community.

"Uh, I think you better come and see this." I called over my shoulder, gaze fixed on the scene outside. "I have no idea what is going on, but it doesn't seem like we're in the End any more.

* * *

 **Shatter's POV**

From the moment I awoken, I could tell something was off. Maybe it was something about the air, or the mood of the castle, but whatever the reason, it was clear that overnight, something had changed.

Walking down the hallway by my room, I pressed my ear to Cresilia's door, hearing her peaceful breathing inside. Confident that she was alright, and if anything happened that she could take care of herself, I made my way to the castle's lower level, every sense alert for trouble. The sight that greeted me was quite unexpected, giving me pause as I took in the room from the bottom of the stairs. It was as if overnight, the bottom floor of the castle had been transformed into some kind of dormitory. Many small rooms had been created in the large space by erecting simple walls of blocks or banners, and within each, a figure rested. Some seemed partially awake, and a few were missing all together, presumably gone to do something else. A part of me wondered if this was something that happened intentionally, that Cresilia had forgotten to tell me about, that was how organized everything seemed.

Walking towards the door, I passed several people who looked familiar, as well as a multitude of unfamiliar ones. Many of the ones I did know though, were from second hand view, from when Steve had encountered them.

One mushroom spotted room brought to mind one of the more distant lords I had met, a reclusive lord of mooshrooms who lived on one of the distant mushroom islands of the south. Chrysheight was an extremely cautious lord who would join with whatever side was winning, seeking to keep his islands safe from the rule of others.

Another room caught my eyes by the doorway, this one with redstone torches that let only a dim glow of light into the room. The two lords within both sat on their beds, speaking to each other in hushed tones. Victor and Shade, both lords of skeletons, were two lords I had done a lot of work with, given that they often worked with Cresilia's group to keep things peaceful. They had helped her keep things under control while she grieved for Steve, but the long years did not show as they did on most Crafters. Their magic, something that came with being a lord, slowed their aging, allowing them to continue watching over their people.

 _Focus Shatter._ I told myself, tearing my gaze away from the unexpected sight that had greeted me when I descended the stairs and continuing my way outside, blinking in the bright sunlight. At first, I could see nothing besides the brightness of the daylight, tinted with an odd, almost purple hue.

 _It's not that early, it couldn't just be dawn light._ I thought, squinting into the brightness. After a few moments, my eyes finally adjusted to the bright light. Glancing up at the sky, I noticed that there was a definite lavender tint there, concentrated at the edge of the horizon and the edges of the few clouds that skated across the sky. Watching this oddity, I almost missed the obvious, the lack of the majority of the castle's outer fortifications, as well as the sudden placement of a plethora of random buildings scattered in a rough rectangle around a field of green.

"What happened here?" I gasped, taking in the odd spectacle.

"What indeed." a voice replied, one that sounded unfamiliar. On edge because I really had no idea what was going on at this point, I turned, taking a few steps towards where I figured the voice was coming from. A dark alleyway was instantly visible as I rounded the corner, and within it, a handful of steps back from the light, a hooded figure stood. What they looked like, I could hardly tell, as most of their body was concealed by a full length, trench coat like robe. A band of cloth snaked across this lower face and back under his hood, leaving only his red eyes and a few strands of wispy blonde hair visible beneath the dark edge of his hood. His aura was completely unfamiliar to me, and yet it carried with it traces of both Chaos and Ender magic, an unusual combination.

"Do I know you?" I asked hesitantly, looking him over a second time.

"What? You don't know me?" he asked dramatically, eyes widening and looking aghast.

"Well, no?" I said, the words coming out more like a question.

"That's okay, I wouldn't expect you to. We haven't met after all. Name's Dave." His demeanor had shifted immediately from serious and intense to lighthearted and joking, something that had me reeling slightly.

"Okay, Dave. Well, it was nice to meet you."

"You too. Watch out for everything around here, it seems different that usual."

 _You don't say._ I thought irritably as I turned away, walking quickly towards the empty center of the field. _What with who I've seen so far, you'd think that every random, crazy and odd person somehow ended up here._ _Wherever_ _here is._ As this thought occurred to me, another, far more important idea came to me. _Maybe, just maybe, if all these others are here, then he is as well. Steve might be here. Maybe I can help him, get him away from that nutcase Texolauren._

With this in mind, I took in the buildings around me, trying to judge which might house a crazy magic creature. There were two End houses, one Aether, the Overworld castle, a desert house disguised as a hill, a gray, almost organic looking building, a small cave hut, and a sand coated barracks. Almost immediately, my eyes were drawn towards the gray structure, something in my gut telling me that it belonged to the one that I sought. To be safe though, I made my way towards it carefully, pausing alongside the sandy hill house to look over to the next door dwelling. Almost immediately though, I was surrounded by dark shapes that grabbed me, covering my mouth tightly so I could not cry out as they dragged me into the depths of their dwelling.

"Hey, what are you doing? Why did you bring me here?" I cried out as soon as they released their grip on me, in a room with no windows and only a dim redstone torch for light.

"Oh, it's you." a voice said seemingly from nowhere, and all as once a handful of glowstone lights clicked on. A door opened on one side of the small room, and Demented appeared. The Nether lord hadn't changed much since I had seen him last. His robes had been decorated with a few more designs of rune signs, and his orb was nestled in a pouch attached to a strap that wrapped crosswise across his body, but besides that he hadn't changed.

"Come on." he said, gesturing for me to stand. "We haven't got all day."

"What do you mean we haven't got all day?" I exclaimed, standing and trailing after him as he strode from the room and down the hallway. "You are the one who brought me here! I didn't drag myself here."

"No, that was these two." he sighed, gesturing towards a pair of figures I vaguely recognized.

"You're Dark and E, right?" I asked, thinking back to something that had happened more than a century before. "You helped Ender when she was trying to get away from the Crafters, when they were trying to get to the Aether."

One of them, a shirtless man with an intense tan and a multitude of tattoos who I was able to recognize as E, nodded. "Yes. Sorry about jumping you too. We thought you were some agent of that magic creep who has somehow set up a base next door to us without any warning."

"You know that's not what happened." a deep voice said from deeper in the room. Turning towards the sound, I was greeted by a view of the other Nether lords lounging in the room. It was Ghastly who had spoken, the huge man striking an imposing image. Also present in the room were Bekka, Rune, Jump, and a somewhat disoriented looking Flare.

"Tch, yeah, I guess." E relented, looking a bit put off by Ghastly's comment.

"Uh, can I go on my way?" I asked, my previous thoughts returning to me by force and reminding me of the clear mission I had been on before, one that I had given myself in an effort to end up with a joy filled reunion with Steve.

"Of course." Demented nodded. "Follow me, I'll show you out. You might get lost otherwise. There's a reason we built this place like a maze, and I hardly have the time to show you its patterns."

Confused by his words, but trusting that if he wanted to hurt me at this point, he would have done so already, I nodded in compliance. After a dozen or so minutes of walking we made our way back out to the field, the sand and clay house falling away beneath me as I approached the greyish building next door. Laying a hand on the flexible surface of the door with the intent of opening it, I felt a shudder like ripple run through the membrane. The surface seemed to shudder for a moment, and I took a step back, unsure as to what was happening. The membrane swished to the side, drawn into the frame, and a figure streaked past, wide eyed and with an almost visible drenching of magic draped around them. It took a moment for me to identify the figure, their pain laced gaze and panicked expression giving me pause, as well as the ragged state of their cloths. But when my mind finally managed to identify the figure, it was as if the sky had opened and showered me with joy. For the one who had made such a speedy exit from the building was Steve, and it felt like the greatest day of my life to see him again, alive, as himself once more.

"Steve!" I cried, running towards him as fast I was able. He turned at the sound of my voice, lurching backwards as he attempted to run in terror, eyes forced wide with more terror that I had thought he could hold, considering his previous level. I was faster than him though, unsurprisingly considering all he had been through, and it took me only a handful of steps to catch him

"Shh, Stevie, it's alright." I soothes, hearing his rapid heartbeat. "It's only me." His heart slowed its rapid pace somewhat, but still could be heard quite clearly.

 _It's not you I fear._ He sent, the traces of aura he carried with him so tattered and caked with traces of that _Creature's_ aura that all I wanted to do was hold him close and bury him in my aura, to purge from him every trace of that foul creature and replace the pain with joyful memories.

"Come on Steve, come with me. We can go and see Cresilia, then see if we can find the others. With all the random lords I've seen around here, I'm sure they'll be around."

"He will do no such thing." a powerful voice hissed, and turning abruptly I was presented with a view of Texolauren's irritated face. His tentacles lashed wildly behind him, and his three pairs of eyes glared daggers at me. "This one it mine, as I am sure you know, Demon." He sneered the last bit, flicking his tail forward, as if to shove me aside. "Now, if you know what is good for you, you'll move aside and let me claim what is rightly mine.

"Not a chance." I snapped, grabbing Steve's wrist and making sure to keep him securely behind me.

"Pity." sighed Texolauren, rolling his eyes. "I had thought I would be able to do this without vaporizing anyone. Apparently I was mistaken."

As he prepared to strike, a purple flash of energy appeared between us, a bar of lavender energy striking crosswise against Texolauren's attack.

"Atoravix." he sneered, taking a step back and crossing his arms, tentacles lashing all the more strongly as he expressed his displeasure. "You're the reason I'm even having to deal with this in the first place. I had everything together, finally got myself a half-decent host, and your little realm spell had to go and mess it all up."  
"Tradition Texo, ever heard of it." Atoravix sighed, crossing his arms and flicking his fur tipped tail in annoyance. "The one who requested this, who I will not name, was right in saying that we need to observe this. Things will be back to normal after a bit."

Turning to me, Atoravix spoke, his words seeming to echos through my mind rather than being spoken aloud, and I got the impression he was addressing everyone. *All you hear this. You have three days, well more like two and a bit now, they're not as long as the standard days most of you have, before you are returned to your normal lives. Take this time to make up and reunite with those you need to, it is a chance to make things right. Any violence of any kind will not be tolerated, and I will personally enforce this rule. So, go to it, and meet with those you long for. You know who I mean.* His words faded, and Texolauren glared over his shoulder slinking of into his dwelling.

"Come on Steve, let's go find the others." I exclaimed, looping my arm around his waist.

"Alright." he agreed quietly, face brightening slightly. "Let's go and see them."

* * *

 **Atoravix's POV**

 _They all look so happy_. I thought in delight, overseeing the gathering spread below me. It was close to the time for them to be returned to their realms, and the majority of things had been done without any conflict. A soft hand on my shoulder drew my attention, and I turned, seeing a beaming Will standing beside me.

"Thanks for all of this Atoravix, it's been great." he grinned, his form slipping towards his true serpent one as his delight practically spilled out every which way. His had clasped tightly around one of Miritayen's, nails digging in slightly as if he were afraid that at any moment, he might suddenly not be there any more.

"Of course." I nodded "Now, go have fun." Will nodded, turning and pulling Miritayen along behind him with a spring in his step.

*Thank you for what you did.* Miritayen sent to me *He really needed this.*

 _I know._ I replied _I could tell. Now, go spent what time you have together._

*Will do.* he replied, allowing Will to pull him along and teleport him elsewhere, leaving me to keep watch over the others as they spent more of their precious time

* * *

together.

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed this story, I certainly enjoyed writing it. I would like to thank Blueseas17 for their OC Rune, Bookworm4fr for their OC Chrysheight, Kitten for their OC Ghastly, Spazington for their OC Victor, Agent Ghost the Fox for their OC Shade, and Mornix Vice for their OC's Dark, E, Demented, Dave, Null and Endervice. Now, I hope you all have had a good year, and will have an even better one in the coming months. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and if you enjoyed this story I suggest checking out some of my other works. Have a great day, and I hope to see you soon. Bye! :D**


End file.
